Rabid Robots.
Author: {MeXaL} <mcrobertson@cix.compulink.co.uk>
Players are approached by a distraught woman called Donna Haines. She is a cyberneticist who works for a corporation called Inteltrax, which specialises in cyborg and android technology. Her twin brother, Paul, also works there. He has been arrested by the CorpCops, on suspicion of “whistle-blowing”, he was concerned by aberrent behaviour in the latest generation of androids, the D7s.
Just before he was taken in, he was able to call Donna, who was enjoying a day off, to ask for help. He said that the androids were “contaminated” and the project had to be halted at all costs.
She wasn’t directly involved in that particular piece of development work, but from what Paul had been saying the D7 project, being developed for the government, involves the creation of android “super soldiers” capable of killing humans if so commanded. Most Inteltrax androids are equipped with the equivalent of the Asimov 3 Laws of Robotics, but these have been bypassed.
Under the terms of the contract for this job, Inteltrax can hold someone legally for 72 hours, apart from the usual corporate security excesses that occur without genuine legal sanction. Donna doesn’t know this, but any lawyer contacted by the PCs will soon find it out!
Donna will suggest – if nobody else does – a search of the apartment she shares with Paul. There isn’t much to be found, Paul didn’t bring work home (against Inteltrax rules anyway), but there is a membership card for the Club Inferno, which Donna is certain Paul didn’t go to – they play chromic rock and Paul prefers the blues/jazz end of things. The place also has a reputation for being full of drug dealers and prostitutes, the sort who cater to exotic tastes.
At some point, preferably in the presence of at least one PC, Donna will be attacked by one of the D7 androids, which will attempt a bizarre parody of rape and then try to kill her.
Likely Tasks.
1 Find and release Paul Haines. He’s somewhere in the Inteltrax research facility. Donna works there too, and so knows her way around. To begin with, they don’t know that she has realised that Paul has been arrested, so if they move fast Donna’s access card will still work.
2 Keep Donna alive.
3 Find out what is going on.
What Is Going On?
The D7’s hydraulic fluids have become contaminated by a drug called Euphoron. It’s supposed to enhance the psycho-sexual response, particularly in people who are cyborgs. The Inteltrax boss, called Zee (Zacchary M. Zelazny) uses it, and one of his aides decided to try it. Unfortunately he OD’d,. and as he was hiding in the plant whilst experimenting, he fell into the wrong vat. In the androids, it causes a tendency to kill for pleasure. All six prototype D7s have been affected. They otherwise do as instructed.
The one that attacks Donna was sent to kill her once Paul admitted to his captors that he’d called her to ask for help when he realised that he was being arrested.
Euphoron is illegal, it is made on Luna and smuggled in. The main source in the city is the Club Inferno, where it is handled by a lady called Dolmina. She is both user and dealer, and supplies Zee. He will call her asking for a further supply, something about his had been stolen, this just about while the PCs are investigating, if they do.
If it becomes apparent that the PCs are on to something, Zee will release the other D7s with orders to attack them.